Friday May 12th, 2000

The Benetton Formula One team confirmed on Friday that they were looking for a new test driver to replace Japan's Hidetoshi Mitsusada.

A team spokeswoman said Mitsusada, who was appointed in January but has so far failed to qualify in his debut season in Formula 3000 with the WRT team, would not be doing further testing for Benetton.

Benetton gave Italian Giorgio Pantano his first outing in a Formula One car at the Jerez track in southern Spain on Wednesday and said in a statement afterwards that it was "part of an evaluation for the role of Benetton's test driver."

Pantano, 21, is currently racing in German Formula Three and Benetton said he made good progress over 12 laps.